Don't worry about Big Brother. Worry about who is sitting in the next booth at an eatery, or behind you in line at Shaw's. They may be listening in on your conversation. I thought they only did that in Nazi Germany or North Korea.

Print the picture of the "People's Deputy" that listened in on Mr. Copeland (in Wolfeboro), so if I see her in a public place I can move away.

It is safe to say that there are those who wish to diminish me as a person. Some of those people are stuck on stupid. Some do so for purely political reasons, they want government to take care of them just for the sake of living off of the fruits and labor of others. Then of course there are people in the GOP who are angered and embarrassed by my tenacity (and their lack of) to prove that my political positions are the correct ones — before our country turns to socialism and what made America great is gone forever.

To have one writer (if he wrote it) say that I am bad because of the categories of "the makers" and "the takers" used during my radio programs and writings, attacking my father for serving and giving his life for our country by interjecting how tough his dad had it growing up, and that the money my legal guardian received from the government could take the place of my father.

For some reason, Elaine Morrison was moved to pen a letter to this paper. She and her sister June would not remember me, but brother Tom would. He was a classmate, and invited me into the Beaudet home on Grant. Their mom is a wonderful lady. My reason for responding is to say that Elaine's late husband Pete Morrison was one the best. One night in the mid-70 s (?) Betty and I attended an event in the Memorial Middle School where Pete was the DJ. There were many humorous folks there, but Pete could steal the show. I still snicker from time to time about one story of his days at WMUR. I have nothing but praise for Elaine as a mother who lost her husband, and was determined to survive with their five children and only use limited resources available to her. AND at the same time she attended school to better herself on her own.

The TAKER who wrote the letter to start the letters to follow is nothing like his father, who didn't whine about how tough it was. Actually, his dad, Elaine, and I are the MAKERS.

To The Daily Sun,I had the honor and privilege of attending the inaugural Top 10 dinner at Laconia High School last evening. I seldom write letters to the editor but was so moved by the event that I felt the need to share my observations.

The Top 10 dinner was the brainchild of LHS teacher Chris Ulrich and LHS principal Jim McCollum, who saw it as a way to honor the 10 top students at LHS for their academic achievement. I expected the evening to be similar to the many other award dinners that I have attended in the past, but I could not have been more wrong. Each student chose a teacher who had made an impact on them to attend and have dinner with the student and their family. After dinner concluded, each teacher was invited to the podium to speak about the student and each student then immediately followed to talk about the teacher. What transpired was something that I wish that everyone in Laconia had been there to witness. Each teacher knew the student well and had clearly spent significant time outside of the classroom with the student and developed a strong personal relationship with them. However, it was what the students had to say about their teachers that made the night so special. Every single student told a story about the teacher taking an interest in them and helping them to successfully navigate through their high school years. Many went far deeper. One student who grew up without a father remarked that when he joked with his teacher by calling him "Dad" that it really wasn't far from the truth. Another talked about how her relationship with her teacher allowed her to lose her internal filter and truly express herself in her writing and heal from things that had happened to her in her life. Still another talked with tears in her eyes about her insecurity and the pressure that she put on herself and how her teacher had helped her to realize that she didn't need to be perfect or to worry about what others might think of her but to just do her best and be happy with herself.

It is impossible to adequately express the emotion in the room, but the deep bonds between these students and their teachers were obvious and I must confess that I had a tear in my eye on a number of occasions. In reflecting on the evening and the difference that these teachers have made on their students lives, I found myself both admiring and envying them. An engaged and caring parent has the ability to positively impact the lives of their children and their children's' friends. An engaged and caring teacher has the ability to positively impact the lives of hundreds of young people. It is obvious from last night's Top 10 dinner that we have a number of engaged and caring teachers at LHS I am truly thankful that they are there making a positive difference on our kids and our community.

Another month and seems spring has finally sprung. Another month and it springs another scandal.

Yes, I'm speaking of the VA scandal this time. We all heard Obama promise to fix this way back in 2008. Well now he's "mad as hell", or so his press secretary claims. Just what is he mad at I need to ask? Is he mad because he appointed another incompetent political stooge to fix the thing? Mad because he hasn't got the leadership ability of a hive of termites or just because the whole rotten mess has come out?

Yet, this is classic Obama; give a great speech full of promises and hope then go golfing on vacation. After all it's always someone else's fault. Funny how that works, he speaks, does nothing and what, expects a fairy godmother to wave a magic wand?

What isn't a bit funny is the body tolls building up due to this man. Fast and furious, the gun running scheme to Mexico has killed hundreds down there. He promised a complete investigation so it could never happen again. Attorney General Holder sent 25,000 pages to the Congress, which included everything except the questions which Congress wanted to know. When pressed, Obama declared executive privilege, stonewalling the investigation.

Then there was Benghazi, where our ambassador and and three man security team members were killed. Obama gave another speech, looked America right in the face and lied to us. He again promised a complete investigation so it could never happen again. He promised to bring those responsible to justice but has not even done that. Congress again tried to investigate, only to hear Mrs Clinton ask, "What does it really matter"? More reams of documents were sent to Congress but again none of the questions Congress wanted to know were released.

Same story with the IRS persecution of Conservatives in 2011 and Mrs.Learner pleaded the 5th before Congress. Another scandal followed which has the government spying on all our private communications. On and on, Obama and company goes — speech's, lies, stonewalling and blaming others for his failures. Now the VA scandal in at least 19 states and our vet's are suffering and dying because of another broken Obama promise. And let's not forget Obamacare, written behind closed doors, promoted by deceit and lies yet is touted as Obama's great achievement. We might note that the VA system is the only health care system in the U.S. that is fully funded and run by the government and because it is it has layers and layers of bureaucracy making it a cumbersome, inefficient department built on layers of subterfuge and dishonesty. The results are our vets are dying from criminal neglect. This is what happens when the politicians take over. They pay off political debts with jobs, give power to incompetent bureaucrats and people die. Can we really expect anything different from Obamacare? Only if your in complete denial.Steve Earle

The 11th Annual "WOW Sweepstakes Ball" was held at the Opechee Inn & Conference Center on May 17th and was another great evening of food, fun, dancing and more. Congratulations to our 10 cash prize winners and $10,000 Grand Prize winner Rae Hahn of Laconia! We write this letter to thank and acknowledge the individuals and businesses for their generous contributions and support of the WOW Trail. We are grateful that the WOW Trail has gained such widespread support from our community.

The proceeds from this year's WOW Sweepstakes Ball of just over $35,000 will be used for the continued expansion and on-going maintenance of the trail. We are in the process of engineering design of Phase II of the trail, which will extend the trail from downtown to Belmont, and we hope to build this section in 2014.

Many thanks to all who bought a ticket to this fundraising event. We were again delighted by the tremendous turnout...and our 11th sell-out! (Mark your calendars for next year...the Saturday before Memorial Day weekend — May 16th)